News
‘Train Dreams’ movie and discussion coming to the Panida
Movie and book fans will have a chance to see the Oscar-nominated movie Train Dreams on the big screen, when the Panida Theater shows the film on March 13 in an event that will include a discussion of the movie and the book it was adapted from. The book and film are of special interest locally. Train Dreams is set around the turn of the 20th century in the Inland Northwest, in the era when the railroads and logging were the major industries. Much of the story takes place along the Moyie River – in the book spelled as a historical variant, the Moyea – where railroad and timber laborer Robert Grainier builds a remote cabin and attempts to retreat to a life with his...
Read MoreKYRS: Earth Matters Now
On Tuesday, January 27, 2026, Jack joined Nick Jeffries, the Wildland Resource Planner for the City of Spokane, on KYRS’s Earth Matters Now! for a two-hour conversation about fire on the Inland Northwest landscape. Hosted by Laura Ackerman and Mike Peterson, this episode can now be accessed as a podcast by going to https://archive.kyrs.org/ and scrolling down to the 12:00-2:00 pm time slot for January 27th. You can also download it by clicking...
Read More2025 Updates
Jack continues to lead walks for various organizations around the Spokane area. Since many of these excursions have a short lead time, the best way to find out about them is to get on our mailing list by sending an email request on the Contact Page. Jack has also completed a pair of visual essays for HistoryLink.org that explore tribal use of fire on the landscape around the period of contact—one for east of the Cascades, one for the west side. You can view them at https://historylink.org/File/23302 https://historylink.org/File/23301 Upcoming dates to note: Fort Colvile Summit October 18, 2025: 10AM-3PM Mistequa Hotel and Casino Register and learn more here Jack...
Read MoreNewly Listed 2024 Speaking Events
WSU Press has just released the first paperback edition of David Douglas: A Naturalist at Work. This highly illustrated collection of essays describes David Douglas’s time in the Pacific Northwest through period artwork, tribal interactions, archival treasures, herbarium specimens, and tracking the trails and waterways that Douglas traveled. For more information, click here. Jack will be making presentations about: David Douglas’s journeys across the Columbia Plateau at The Sandhill Crane Festival in Othello, Washington, on March 23 at 2:30 p.m. Mammoth bone finds around the margins of Ice Age Floods at the Ice Age Flood Institute’s annual Jubilee in Spokane on June 7....
Read MoreNew Edition of Sources of the River
A new edition of Sources of the River has just been release by Talon Audio Books. It is now available on Audible, Libby, or wherever you get your recorded books. Audible...
Read MoreThe last scientifically documented sighting of a wild condor in Washington state occurred in 1897. Can they come back?
Jack’s latest article in the Pacific Northwest Inlander discusses the last documented sighting of wild condors in Washington State. Is it possible for them to ever return? What is the current status of the birds, and what future plans exist for them? The article appears in two parts, both of which are available via the links below. The last scientifically documented sighting of a wild condor in Washington state occurred in 1897. Can they come back? The status of condors right now and future plans for the big...
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